Surface grinding hack.

[WVHillbilly]

I understand I am the new guy and do not want to wear out my welcome. Was looking for a video about something unrelated and found this old school hack. Some may finding very useful. I thought it was pretty slick myself.

[Keta]

Everything you have posted is helpful, keep it up.

[JasonGotaProblem]

Please I encourage you to do everything in your power to wear out your welcome. So far it's all been great.

[jurelometer]

Don't want to discourage these type of postings (I like to read them too!). But part of the discussion should also be critique.

There is some stuff going on here that I was taught not to do in shop safety training.  But I am just a hobbyist.  Curious if long time shop rats do this kind of stuff while chomping on their cigar butts

I would have gotten thrown out of the shop if I was caught side grinding anything (no exceptions) on a standard grinder/wheel.  There is no way to dress the side of wheel like you can do with the front, and the likelihood of the wheel blowing up goes way up with axial load.  In this case it is a lighter grind, so less of a bad thing, but still no bueno from what I have been taught.

Blood curdling stories of shattered grinding wheel injuries are standard shop safety training fare.

The second thing is wearing gloves when using rotating machinery.  Get a little close with bare hands and you might grind  a  bit of your thumbnail off, but catch the fingertip of a glove between the wheel and the rest, and it could get as bad as a de-gloving injury, which means in addition to breaking a bunch of fingers, all the skin comes off your hand with the glove.

There may be folk that are hypervigilant enough to go a lifetime doing these kind of things without incident, but there are also folk just getting away with it until the day that they don't.

Not claiming the high ground here, but thought it is worth mentioning.

-J

[WVHillbilly]

This skill set is not for the person who uses a butter knife for a screw driver or the type that says.... get a bigger hammer. Finesse is the name of the game. Touch.
But would agree in general this is not for those who do not understand or have at least some amount of experience. The glove is for heat and braking. I never wear gloves when operating in my shop, but for this it makes sense.

[Shellbelly]

Safety is an infusion of skill, craftsmanship, and experience.  All three traits reduce risk.  All of my woodworking tools are dangerous but I know them and the materials I apply to them.

That being said, there is never a bad time to talk about safety.  It shows that we care about one another.

[Wompus Cat]

Well some IDIOTS get hurt unrolling Toilet Paper.
You can't teach common sense and you cain't FIX STUPID !

Thanks for the Hack . I kinda use variants of that with my ol Valve Machine .

[Bill B]

I was cringing when the video first started, but after seeing where he was going I will be adding this to the old brain library.  I do use the side of the grinding wheel from time to time, just not for heavy grinding.  Thank you for sharing.  Bill

[WVHillbilly]

I was cringing when the video first started, but after seeing where he was going I will be adding this to the old brain library.  I do use the side of the grinding wheel from time to time, just not for heavy grinding.  Thank you for sharing.  Bill

Aint gonna lie! My mud cutter clamped up at first as well ..... thankful it did not get stuck that way. Slick technique

[jurelometer]

I keep a couple sheets of that thick raw  leather around. Useful for all sorts of things. For holding small parts to the grinder, rather than wear a glove for heat protection, I just snip off a small tab of leather that will fly off if things go south rather than pull my hand into the grinder.

I designed and 3D printed a collet gizmo that lets me do a similar spin grinding trick to more evenly filet the ends of self-cut dowel pins for my molds.  But I spin it off of a bench mounted belt sander, which might also work for this thrust washer trick if the backing plate was true and solid enough.

I am at the opposite end of the spectrum from the old timer who would scoff at my need for a device just for rounding off dowel pins, and would simply park his cigar stub and hold the pin in his teeth, free grinding a perfectly symmetric filet in mere seconds while whistling a Tom T Hall tune, and only slightly grinding down an incisor . We all have to know our limitations.

Thanks for the original post plus the insight and experience.  Nice folk here, so you will fit in just fine.

-J

[WVHillbilly]

Curiosity got the best of me and since I am wanting a custom drag stack for a project reel .... I had to roll out the grinder rigs an give this a whirl. Takes just a bit to get the feeling and rotation correct, but here is the results. These also happen to be keyed, so not a nice round hole in middle. Factory 30H/175H/47H metal drag washer on the right, and ground right next to it on the left. Works amazingly well, but patience and a steady hand are needed. Stainless makes it a bit tougher as well. Lost a lot of weight that factory fat washer did. Me likey .... Hillbilly out ....

[Cuttyhunker]

I've had to tweak parts over the years using a similar method as is in the above photo.
If the wheel has the pretty much standard guard covering about 3/4 of it keep yourself off to the side as you work. Should your piece get pulled rom your pliers, tweezers etc by the wheel, then it can possibly work it's way around inside the guard and eject horizontally out the top at considerable velocity.  This can result in some interesting operator antics should this now toasty piece find it's way into his shirt.  Murphy's Law, it rules the workshop.

[oldmanjoe]

I am no stranger to the grinder wheel and do use  the side of the wheel at times .
      But this picture just has rutt ro all over it

[WVHillbilly]

It aint all that bad fellas. Yeah ... a nick in the wire at very end. I did work from the side. Is there a difference between that grinder tossin a washer or me throwing a part? Be as safe as you need to be.

[Shellbelly]

You could probably make a jig that would get you a little farther from the wheel and give you more control of the piece.  If you're not removing much and don't need full RPM, maybe a variable speed control at your foot could help keep things from getting too rowdy. 

Grinder injuries can be downright barbaric.